For many small businesses across New Hampshire, social media management seems like a non-necessity and an unneeded luxury item. Sure, Portsmouth and Manchester don’t get Silicone Valley-levels of tech startups and innovative new companies, and their respective populations could never match metropolitan cities like New York and Boston. But that doesn’t mean small New Hampshire companies can’t (and shouldn’t) participate in the social media party and grow their reach to a completely online demographic.

Below we’ve established our 8 best tips to elevate your company’s social media presence so that your small business can take over New Hampshire—from the picturesque Lakes Region to the Seacoast and beyond.

Occasionally boost posts

It seems detrimental—but you’ve got to spend money to make money sometimes. Boosting social media posts can be an easy way to get more exposure with non-followers. Paying just $5 per post can get upwards of 400 (or more) new eyes on your content. With an ample amount of research, you can make sure that those 400 (or technically 800) eyes are the pearly blues of your company’s target demographic.

Here’s a pro tip—don’t just boost promotions or sales-based content. Everybody expects a promotion to try and sell something. Boosting something like an “about us” post can be an effective way to get more people to learn about your company. For instance, we’ve promoted the following post in the past to business owners living in the Seacoast Region (our target demographic) to gain more exposure. It doesn’t sell anything, but instead introduces us to the greater Portsmouth community. That introduction often feels more authentic than a promotional post. Authenticity online is never a bad thing.

 

 

 

 

 

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What's your story? Here's ours.

A post shared by Mintleaf (@mintleafllc) on Jun 15, 2020 at 11:21am PDT

Limit curated content

Curated content (i.e. reposting other people’s content) can be amazing. There’s an endless supply of existing information out there, and it can save time (and resources) by not reinventing the wheel. For instance, if you own a yoga studio, you may share articles on social media about the benefits of doing the downward dog every night when the kids have gone to bed. This article gives your followers genuine information, while also giving you time to do what you do best—teach yoga. Instead of having to write your own blog, you’re able to distribute content in a matter of minutes.

The issue with curated content isn’t that it’s not good, it’s just limiting. If you share a blog post that isn’t your own, you’re essentially driving traffic to someone else’s website—potentially even into the waiting arms of a different yoga studio. You don’t want to see your favorite client doing the downward dog with someone else. The ultimate goal of social media for a company is to participate in a virtual community and to drive sales. You can’t do that if you’re advertising your competitor’s content.

We recommend producing and maintaining your own content (i.e. blogs, photography, articles) from time-to-time. Of course, this is a big investment, but producing a blog-per-month is a simple investment that can help grow your own social presence. And hey, if it’s good enough, maybe someone else will use it as their own curated content.

Produce professional-looking content in the community

This goes without saying. But unfortunately, we have to say it on the daily. You should be taking photos of your company or your product in the local community. If your company is based out of Portsmouth, you’d better have photos of your company interacting with the Portsmouth community (i.e. hanging out in Market Square or by the ocean). You want to have content that landmarks you as members of the community. Stock photos can easily digress into looking haphazard if overdone.

Sure, you don’t need professional equipment to create professional looking content. We’ve created two guides in the past for making social media content—namely video—on both a small and a large budget. If you sell a specific, tangible product, you need to be able to take ample product portraits. But overall, you want to avoid posting blurry, low quality content. In fact, social media can be a great place to try and wow potential customers. The following post was rendered practically by us in our video studio—it looks both clean and professionally produced. This expertise and organization is often felt by viewers of the post.

Post consistently or don’t post at all

Nothing is worse than inactive business accounts on platforms like Instagram and Facebook—they’re the unrealized dreams of local New Hampshire companies that thought they were going to take the social media landscape by storm. And yet, months later, they were the ones leaving their accounts out in the rain.

Often, companies feel the need to create a social presence, but due to factors like lack of on-going interest, budget cuts, time constraints, and more, these efforts often get abandoned. This gives off the impression that a company may no longer care or may be struggling. We recommend not creating a social presence unless you can post consistently. Posting a few times a month for years is better than posting everyday for only a few months.

The easiest way to maintain a consistent posting schedule is to develop a social media calendar and stick to it religiously. Luckily for you, we provide one free for anyone who asks. So, give us a holler.

Respond to comments

It just takes a few seconds to respond to comments left on your social media posts. By not responding, you may be giving off the impression that you don’t value customer input or that you don’t have time for them. Remember, being a part of social media means being a part of a social community. Nobody likes the neighbor that doesn’t say hi when you wave to them while getting the mail—don’t be that guy.

Instead, bake your neighbors a welcome-to-the-neighborhood pie and respond to their comments. Develop a shared company-identity on social media and stick to it when interacting with your virtual community.

Interact with other companies

Again, your job on social media is to be a good neighbor. You can’t do that if you don’t welcome your new neighbors with a warm apple pie. Your friend’s local smoothie shop? Follow it! The café you frequent on the daily? Hit ‘em with a like. Your competitors? Slap them with a like you overly competitive psycho.

Interacting with other companies allows you to grow your presence and to landmark your company within the community. If you tag other companies in posts and give them shoutouts, chances are they’ll do the same thing. This atmosphere of mutual respect can help grow your company and make it a maintain in the New Hampshire community.

Incorporate video

Social media tends to revolve around trends—one of those is video. Let’s be honest, if a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many words a 4k video is worth. And the good news is that video marketing doesn’t always require sophisticated equipment! Most newer iPhones are capable of taking compelling video and photos. With some knowledge of video editing software, it can be easy for your company to give off a professional appearance while still being on a budget.

Or if you’re looking to run paid promotions, video can be one of the best ways to create content that is both engaging and captivating. Small businesses across New Hampshire have started to find ways to incorporate video marketing into their social media practices. Your business can too!

Get a custom quote on video marketing services!

Limit promotions

It sounds detrimental—but it isn’t! Nobody likes to follow pages that constantly self-promote their services and “low prices!” That content can be consumed sporadically but becomes hard-to-stomach in large qualities. A good mantra to live by is to show that your company is the best, rather than telling everyone it’s the best. For reference, we’re only referring to normal social media posts in this section and not paid promotions. Paid promotions can be utilized much more frequently.

In our social media content calendar, we recommend limiting unpaid promotions to one week a month if your company has a strong following. If your company has no following at all, there’s absolutely no point in posting about your low prices and great services. This will just make your company look out-of-touch with social media. And that’s never a good look to give off.

Social media is an ever-evolving science. For smaller companies in New Hampshire—without the client base of larger, more densely-populated states—it can be difficult to see the value in proper social media management. However, social media can be an effective way to expand into new territories and to grow your company’s reach. By following these steps, it’ll be easier to expand your company’s influence from the white mountains to Merrimack Valley.

Tell the world your story

Need help with social media management in New Hampshire, Maine or Massachusetts?

Get in touch with us.

Mintleaf is a creative marketing agency located at 159 Middle Street, Suite 2B, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It serves the greater Seacoast Region and specializes in videography, content marketing, social media management and web design.